7

Being without flesh before, Christ was not in sight; for no one among men, it says, has seen God. But since he puts on the thickness of flesh, he who is outside of all both time and place, becomes tangible, passible in his composition; an infant, conceived from a maiden without seed, he grows, thirsts and hungers and bears all of the things depicted in position and in an image. How then can you henceforth, O madman, O wretched one, not reverently circumscribe Christ in the flesh, according to his form his entire presence? But either repent and become a believer from error or be carried far away from the court of God.

34 Another

Christ is he who is shown in the image, since he appeared as a mortal, being God by nature.

For he who does not wish to look upon him thus, alleges that he was enfleshed as a phantom. 35 To the holy Theotokos Looking upon you in an icon, O Mother of the Lord, I approach with fear and longing to venerate you; for truly so great a grace is yours, that from your shadow miracles gush forth.

36 Another

Upon my arm a babe like unto a mother's, Christ the king of all,

I bear in an image, flashing forth the light of incorruptibility and delivering the world from the error of demons.

37 Another

You, having given birth to God, surpass the angels; whom for not even they are able

to look upon, you yourself bear him as a Son in your immaculate hands.

38 Another

In a manner befitting a mother I bear the Son in an image, so that he might appear as the genuine child of a mother, he who is similarly exalted above the image, since indeed he is twofold in nature, unseparated.

39 To the icon of Christ

I am depicted in an icon, although I am God by nature, since I am also mortal in substance; and

in my shadow I am venerated everywhere, without receiving any division of glory.

40 To the church of the Theotokos He who looks upon the house of the Virgin, understand: for she, a temple of God,

having been shown, has temples of her own everywhere on earth.

41 To a vestment Seeing the Creator of the world enfleshed with the one who bore him in the painting of the

icons, be amazed, how God is an infant and does all things for mortals

7

Ἄσαρκος ὢν πρὶν Χριστὸς οὐκ ἦν ἐν θέᾳ· Θεὸν γὰρ οὐδείς, φησίν, ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ σαρκὸς ἐνδιδύσκεται πάχος, ὁ παντὸς ἔξω καὶ χρόνου τε καὶ τόπου, ἁπτός, παθητὸς γίνεται τῇ συνθέσει· βρέφος κυηθεὶς ἐκ κόρης σπορᾶς ἄνευ αὔξει, διψεῖ πεινεῖ τε καὶ σύμπαν φέρει τῶν ἐν θέσει τε καὶ γραφῇ δεδειγμένων. Πῶς οὖν σὺ λοιπὸν, ὦ παράφρων, ὦ τάλα, οὐ σαρκὶ σεπτῶς Χριστὸν ἐμπεριγράφεις, κατ' εἶδος αὐτοῦ τὴν ὅλην παρουσίαν; Ἀλλ' ἢ μεταγνοὺς πιστὸς ἐκ πλάνης γίνου ἢ τῆς Θεοῦ πόρρωθεν αὐλῆς ἐκφέρου.

34 Ἄλλο

Ὁ Χριστός ἐστι τῇ γραφῇ δεδειγμένος, ἐπεὶ βροτὸς πέφηνεν, ὢν Θεὸς φύσει.

Ὁ μὴ γὰρ οὕτως προσβλέπειν αὐτὸν θέλων, φαντασματωδῶς σωματοῦσθαι προσλέγει. 35 Εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν Θεοτόκον Ἐν εἰκόνι βλέπων σε, μῆτερ Κυρίου, φόβῳ πρόσειμι προσκυνεῖν σε καὶ πόθῳ· χάρις γὰρ ὄντως τηλικαύτη σοι πέλει, ὡς τῇ σκιᾷ σου θαυματουργίας βρύειν.

36 Ἄλλο

Ἐπ' ὠλένης μου μητρόμοιόν μοι βρέφος, τὸν παντάνακτα Χριστόν,

ἐγγράφως φέρω, τὸ φῶς ἀπαστράπτοντα τῆς ἀφθαρσίας καὶ κόσμον ἐξαίροντα δαιμόνων πλάνης.

37 Ἄλλο

Σὺ τὸν Θεὸν τεκοῦσα προὔχεις ἀγγέλων· ὃν οὐ δύνανται καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ

προσβλέπειν, ὡς Υἱὸν αὐτὴ χερσὶν ἀχράντοις φέρεις.

38 Ἄλλο

Μητροπρεπῶς τὸν Υἱὸν ἔγγραπτον φέρω, ὡς ἂν φανείη γνήσιον μητρὸς τέκος ὁ πατρομοίως τῆς γραφῆς ἐπηρμένος, ἐπείπέρ ἐστι διττὸς ἀπρὶξ τὴν φύσιν.

39 Εἰς τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ Χριστοῦ

Ἐξεικόνισμαι, κἂν Θεὸς πέλω φύσει, ἐπείπέρ εἰμι καὶ βροτὸς κατ' οὐσίαν· καὶ

τῇ σκιᾷ μου προσκυνοῦμαι παντί που, μήπω μερισμὸν τοῦ κλέους προσλαμβάνων.

40 Εἰς τὸν ναὸν τῆς Θεοτόκου Τῆς Παρθένου τὸν οἶκον ὁ βλέπων νόει· ναὸς γὰρ αὕτη τοῦ Θεοῦ

δεδειγμένος, ναοὺς ἑαυτῆς πανταχοῦ γαίης ἔχει.

41 Εἰς ἐνδυτήν Τὸν Κοσμοποιὸν σωματούμενον βλέπων σὺν τῇ Τεκούσῃ τῇ γραφῇ τῶν

εἰκόνων, καταπλάγηθι, πῶς Θεὸς βρέφος πέλει ἅπαντά τε δρᾷ πρὸς βροτῶν